From the Dingjiazha Tomb No. In modern biwa, particularly in Satsuma-biwa, one sometimes strikes the soundboard sharply to get percussive effects. The instrument is played with a large wedge-shaped plectrum called a bachi. Like the heike-biwa, it is played held on its side, similar to a guitar, with the player sitting cross-legged. Since biwa pieces were generally performed for small groups, singers did not need to project their voices as opera singers did in Western music tradition. Songs are not always metered, although more modern collaborations are metered. It is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments by ethnomusicologists and organologists . Figure 5 shows examples of harmonic structures of, 2, 3, and 4 pitches in Ichikotsu-ch. And thanks to the low tension of the strings, it is easy to bend the strings by adding pressure. Although this instrument is quite large and a very substantial plectrum is used to excite its strings, its sound is surprisingly soft and meant more for intimate settings rather than concert halls. This causes a sustained, buzzing noise called, which adds a unique flavor to the biwa sound. This music called heikyoku () was, cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14-15. Hitting the body of the instrument: The plectrum is used to hit the black protective part on the front of the instrument. The horizontal playing position became the vertical (or near-vertical) position by the Qing dynasty, although in some regional genres such as nanguan the pipa is still held guitar fashion. Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection - Chikuzen Biwa. ________. In order to boost the volume of its sound the biwa player rarely attacks a single string, and instead arpeggios 2, 3, or 4 pitches, with one note per string. Chikuzen biwa music is narrative music much beholding to narrative shamisen music. Example 4 shows that the biwa's melodic pitch doubles the basic melodic tone on the downbeat of almost every measure, except in measure 4 where the melodic tone 'E' is supported with a 'D' in the biwa's part. The Museum's collection of musical instruments includes approximately 5,000 examples from six continents and the Pacific Islands, dating from about 300 B.C. Resonator design, chordophone: bowl with wood soundboard, Vibrational length: tension bridge to ridge-nut, Pitches per string course: multiple (by pressure stopping against fretted fingerboard), 4-string biwa (gallery #1): The strings are sounded with a large, thick, fan-shaped plectrum called a bachi (detail #6), traditionally made of wood (the practice bachi pictured here is made from resin). Lin Shicheng (; 19222006), born in Shanghai, began learning music under his father and was taught by Shen Haochu (; 18991953), a leading player in the Pudong school style of pipa playing. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. These tunings are relative, the actual pitches a given biwa is tuned to being determined by the vocal range of the singer/player. The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. The name "pipa" is made up of two Chinese syllables, "p" () and "p" (). The strings are made of wound silk. Dunhuang, Mogao Caves. [56], Texts from Tang dynasty mentioned many renowned pipa players such as He Huaizhi (), Lei Haiqing (), Li Guaner (), and Pei Xingnu (). At the beginning of the Meiji period, it was estimated that there were at least one hundred traditional court musicians in Tokyo; however, by the 1930s, this number had reduced to just 46 in Tokyo, and a quarter of these musicians later died in World War II. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, and usually four strings. The traditional pieces however often have a standard metrical length of 68 measures or beat,[46] and these may be joined together to form the larger pieces dagu.[47]. later versions were played by the blind Japanese lute priests of the Heian period and it was also played as background music for story-telling The 5-string specimen is larger (the vibrating length of its strings is 30.3 inches) and heavier than the 4-string specimen and also has some delicate decorative detail added that is carved out of mother-of-pearl (detail #8 and #9). The satsuma-biwa is traditionally made from Japanese mulberry, although other hard woods such as Japanese zelkova are sometimes used in its construction. There are some types of traditional string instrument. The biwas sound at the attack (top) at one second later (bottom). Hornbostel-Sach Classification of instruments is a means of sorting out instruments according to how it produces sound. The body is often made of stretched snakeskin, and come in varying sizes. The sound can be totally different depending on where the instrument is hit, how the plectrum is held, and which part of the plectrum hits the surface. Detail #2 shows the backside of the instrument; detail #3 is a side view revealing both the shallowness of the bowl-shaped resonator and the height of the frets that are glued onto the neck. Modern biwa used for contemporary compositions often have five or more frets, and some have a doubled fourth string. The interval between the pitches of the open string and first fret is a major second, while the interval between pitches on two adjacent frets is a minor second. to divide instruments into eight categories determined by materials. The biwa has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. It is the most widely used system for classifying musical . [40] Through time, the neck was raised and by the Qing dynasty the instrument was mostly played upright. With this, the biwa entered a period of popularity, with songs reflecting not just The Tale of the Heike, but also the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, with songs such as Takeo Hirose, Hitachimaru and 203 Hill gaining popularity. Several types of biwa, each with its own social setting and repertoire, have evolved in Japan over the past 1300 years, the specimens pictured here being called most accurately the chikuzen biwa. [10] In solo performances, a biwa performer sings monophonically, with melismatic emphasis throughout the performance. [10][11] This may have given rise to the Qin pipa, an instrument with a straight neck and a round sound box, and evolved into ruan, an instrument named after Ruan Xian, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and known for playing similar instrument. It is one of the more popular Chinese folk music, often paired with singing. NAKAMURA Kahoru, the biwa player with whom we worked, mentioned that for a concert including pieces in two different modes, she tunes two biwas before the concert. Although no longer as popular as it once was, several chikuzen biwa schools have survived to the present day in Japan and to a lesser extent in Japanese communities abroad (such as in Hawaii). Another. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. length An example tuning of the four string version is B, e, f and b, and the five string instrument can be tuned to C, G, C, d and g. For the five string version, the first and third strings are tuned the same note, the second string three steps down, the fifth string an octave higher than the second string, and the fourth string a step down from the fifth. The Traditional Music of Japan. The five-stringed pipa however had fallen from use by the Song dynasty, although attempts have been made to revive this instrument in the early 21st century with a modernized five-string pipa modeled on the Tang dynasty instrument. , one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. It was those blind monks who fell outside of governmental protection who, during the 17. century, creatively modified the biwa to introduce a shamisen flavor, such as making frets higher to play in-between notes. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, Accession Number:
'five-stringed biwa'), a Tang variant of biwa, can be seen in paintings of court orchestras and was used in the context of gagaku; however, it was removed with the reforms and standardization made to the court orchestra during the late 10th century. Among ethnomusicologists, it is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments. [36][37] The Ming collection of supernatural tales Fengshen Yanyi tells the story of Pipa Jing, a pipa spirit, but ghost stories involving pipa existed as early as the Jin dynasty, for example in the 4th century collection of tales Soushen Ji. While the modern satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa both originated from the ms-biwa, the satsuma-biwa was used for moral and mental training by samurai of the Satsuma Domain during the Warring States period, and later for general performances. Brian Grimm placed the contact mic pickup on the face of the pipa and wedged under the bridge so he is able to plug into pedalboards, live computer performance rigs, and direct input (DI) to an audio interface for studio tracking. The stroking motion always starts from the 1st string, sequentially sweeping toward the others until it reaches the arpeggios last string. As one of the modern types of biwa that flourished in the late 19, centuries, Satsuma-biwa is widely played today in various settings, including popular media. Biwa performers also vary the volume of their voice between barely audible to very loud. [19], Other musicians, such as Yamashika Yoshiyuki, considered by most ethnomusicologists to be the last of the biwa hshi, preserved scores of songs that were almost lost forever. They recognized that studies in music theory and music composition in Japan almost entirely consisted in Western theory and instruction. The wu style was associated more with the Northern school while the wen style was more the Southern school. The . [44] The first volume contains 13 pieces from the Northern school, the second and third volumes contain 54 pieces from the Southern school. The frets of the satsuma-biwa are raised 4 centimetres (1.6in) from the neck allowing notes to be bent several steps higher, each one producing the instrument's characteristic sawari, or buzzing drone. The two-headed tacked drum hung in an elaborate circular frame in court music is a gaku-daiko or tsuri-daiko. Further, the frets and the nut are wide, which provides a surface, not a point, for a string to touch. The biwas shallow body is a bouncing board that sharply projects its sound forward. Kakubachi: This is the performance of arpeggio with a downward motion of the plectrum, and it is always loud. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. The number of frets is considerably fewer than other fretted instruments. The earliest-known piece in the collection may be "Eagle Seizing a Crane" () which was mentioned in a Yuan dynasty text. [citation needed]. 3 in. Blind priests would play them in order to tell stories and tales of ancient war. Recently, this instrument, much like the konghou harp, has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. This instrument was also used many times as an accompanying instrument in larger ensembles. There is little space between the strings on the first three frets, causing obstruction when attacking an upper string whose immediate lower string is fingered in one of the first three frets. [21] During this time, Persian and Kuchan performers and teachers were in demand in the capital, Chang'an (which had a large Persian community). Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. In all biwa styles, except for Gaku-biwa (, please refer to the section Types of Biwa), fingers are positioned between the frets, not on the frets. It is similar in shape to the chikuzen-biwa, but with a much more narrow body. Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments. Nation: Japan. 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wu Man is probably the best known pipa player internationally, received the first-ever master's degree in pipa and won China's first National Academic Competition for Chinese Instruments. Kishibe, Shigeo. greatest width of plectrum The traditional Satsuma-biwa has 4 strings and 4 frets (Sei-ha and Kinshin-ryu schools), and newer styles have 5 strings and 5 frets (Nishiki and Tsuruta-ryu schools). All rights reserved. This is the original form of biwa that came to Japan in the 8. century. [9] When singing in a chorus, biwa singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment. Rubbing the strings: The plectrum is used to rub an open string. . The number of frets is considerably fewer than other fretted instruments. Updates? Yamashika, born in the late Meiji period, continued the biwa hshi tradition until his death in 1996. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi (, The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. Another new style called Chikuzen-biwa () was created in the 19th century in northern Kyushu Island, based off of the blind monks biwa music, and adopting shamisen, Satsuma-biwa, and other contemporary musical styles. The biwa, originally an instrument of high society, gradually spread among wandering blind monks who used this instrument to tell stories. In spite of its popularity, the nin War and subsequent Warring States Period disrupted biwa teaching and decreased the number of proficient users. [6][7] According to Liu Xi's Eastern Han dynasty Dictionary of Names, the word pipa may have an onomatopoeic origin (the word being similar to the sounds the instrument makes),[6] although modern scholarship suggests a possible derivation from the Persian word "barbat", the two theories however are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a ( Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. The biwa arrived in Japan in the 7th century, having evolved from the Chinese bent-neck pipa (; quxiang pipa),[1] while the pipa itself was derived from similar instruments in West Asia. It produces distinctive ichikotsuch () and hyj (). The biwa's Chinese predecessor was the pipa (), which arrived in Japan in two forms;[further explanation needed] following its introduction to Japan, varieties of the biwa quadrupled. Ieyasu favored biwa music and became a major patron, helping to strengthen biwa guilds (called Todo) by financing them and allowing them special privileges. The six fret type is tuned to B, E, B and b. [21] For example, masses of pipa-playing Buddhist semi-deities are depicted in the wall paintings of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. For other uses, see, Illustrations from the 15th century Korean work, Xiansuo Shisan Tao (, later incorporated into Complete String Music ), Note that some people claimed Pei Xingnu to be the female player described in the poem, History of lute-family instruments Short-necked lutes, "The pipa: How a barbarian lute became a national symbol", "Avaye Shayda - Kishibe's diffusionism theory on the Iranian Barbat and Chino-Japanese Pi' Pa', "Chapter 1: A General history of the Pipa", "Bracket with two musicians 100s, Pakistan, Gandhara, probably Butkara in Swat, Kushan Period (1st century-320)", The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics, "Pipa - A Chinese lute or guitar, its brief history, photos and music samples", A report on Chinese research into the Dunhuang music manuscripts, "Chapter 3 Musical structure in the Hua Collection", "Comparison of Three Chinese Traditional Pipa Music Schools with the Aid of Sound Analysis", "Lui Pui-yuen, master of Chinese music, returns to perform once again", "Incubus - Mike Einziger Guitar Gear Rig and Equipment", "[search page, albums featuring Yang Jing]", "La scne musicale alternative pkinoise vue par Jean Sbastien Hry (Djang San)", "BC GRIMM Experimental Acoustic-Electric Music EPK", "Experimental Electric Pipa - , by Zhang Si'an (Djang San )", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pipa&oldid=1138787889, Articles with dead external links from January 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2019, Articles with MusicBrainz instrument identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Flute and Drum at Sunset / Flowery Moonlit River in Spring, This page was last edited on 11 February 2023, at 16:35. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. [27] The traditional 16-fret pipa became less common, although it is still used in some regional styles such as the pipa in the southern genre of nanguan/nanyin. Biwa is a 4-stringed lute played with a large spectrum. Example 4 shows the basic melody of Etenraku's section B and C, and its rhythmic accompaniment. Liu also studied with other musicians and has developed a style that combines elements from several different schools. [1][2] Modern researchers such as Laurence Picken, Shigeo Kishibe, and John Myers suggested a non-Chinese origin. Other early known players of pipa include General Xie Shang from the Jin dynasty who was described to have performed it with his leg raised. Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. The biwa player with whom we worked, NAKAMURA Kahoru, improvised ten different versions of this rhythm. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. Moreover, it always starts from the 1st string and stops on either the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th string depending if the arpeggio contains 2, 3, or 4 pitches, respectively. 105-126. The musical narrative of The Tale of Heike, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. A rapid strum is called sao (), and strumming in the reverse direction is called fu (). [2][29] Wang Zhaojun in particular is frequently referenced with pipa in later literary works and lyrics, for example Ma Zhiyuan's play Autumn in the Palace of Han (), especially since the Song dynasty (although her story is often conflated with other women including Liu Xijun),[30][29] as well as in music pieces such as Zhaojun's Lament (, also the title of a poem), and in paintings where she is often depicted holding a pipa. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). This 5-stringed lute with a powerful. This is a type of biwa that wandering blind monks played for religious practice as well as in narrative musical performances during the medieval era, widely seen in the Kyushu area. Since the biwas pegs do not move smoothly, tuning the instrument to a different mode requires time. During the 1910s a five-string model was developed that, since the 1920s, has been the most common form of the instrument (gallery #2). The strings are tuned in fourths, and the melody is played almost exclusively on the highest pitched string. Shakuhachi 2. Most ms biwas have tear-shaped bodies, but this rustic fish-shaped example was probably used by a wandering Buddhist monk. [45] Other collections from the Qing dynasty were compiled by Li Fangyuan () and Ju Shilin (), each representing different schools, and many of the pieces currently popular were described in these Qing collections. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. The heike-biwa (), a biwa with four strings and five frets, is used to play The Tale of the Heike. In the early 1950s, he founded the traditional instruments department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In all biwa styles, except for Gaku-biwa (: please refer to the section Types of Biwa), fingers are positioned between the frets, not on the frets. Members of these schools are sighted and include both females and males. It is an arpeggio that is always starting from the first string (the lowest) and swepping upwards to either the second, third or fourth string. The biwa has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. [3] From roughly the Meiji period (18681912) until the Pacific War, the satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa were popular across Japan, and, at the beginning of the Shwa period (19251989), the nishiki-biwa was created and gained popularity. The peg box is angled about 90 degrees from the neck, and the back of the body is flat, unlike the western lute. Once assembled, four wound silk strings of varying thicknesses are at one of their ends tied to the string holder bridge (detail #4) and the other to the tuning pegs. Other prominent students of Lin Shicheng at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing include Liu Guilian (, born 1961), Gao Hong and Wu Man. We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. Chikuzen was an historic northern province on Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. The Museum's collection of musical instruments includes approximately 5,000 examples from six continents and the Pacific Islands, dating from about 300 B.C. Techniques that produce vibrato, portamento, glissando, pizzicato, harmonics or artificial harmonics found in violin or guitar are also found in pipa. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. All rights reserved. The biwa is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710794). The instrument itself resembles gaku-biwa but is slightly smaller, and is held horizontally. Wood, leather, Dimensions:
1800 Geography: Japan Culture: Japanese Medium: Wood, mother-of-pearl and ivory Dimensions: 35 12 1/8 11 1/2 in. The main part of the music is vocal and the biwa part mostly plays short interludes. The gagaku biwa (), a large and heavy biwa with four strings and four frets, is used exclusively for gagaku. However, the playing of the biwa nearly became extinct during the Meiji period following the introduction of Western music and instruments, until players such as Tsuruta Kinshi and others revitalized the genre with modern playing styles and collaborations with Western composers. There are more than seven types of biwa, characterised by number of strings, sounds it could produce, the type of plectrum, and their use. She lives in San Diego, California and works extensively with Chinese, cross-cultural, new music, and jazz groups. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Its classification is a type of a Chordophone. The most eminent 20th century satsuma-biwa performer was Tsuruta Kinshi, who developed her own version of the instrument, which she called the tsuruta-biwa. [71][self-published source] In 2014, French zhongruan player and composer Djang San, created his own electric pipa and recorded an experimental album that puts the electric pipa at the center of music. From the 3rd century onwards, through the Sui and Tang dynasty, the pear-shaped pipas became increasingly popular in China. The 4-string chikuzen biwa (gallery #1) is constructed in several parts and needs to be assembled and strung before being played. [29], There are many references to pipa in Tang literary works, for example, in A Music Conservatory Miscellany Duan Anjie related many anecdotes associated with pipa. Even the biwa hshi transitioned to other instruments such as the shamisen (a three-stringed lute).[15]. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. By the Song dynasty, the word pipa was used to refer exclusively to the four-stringed pear-shaped instrument. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. These cookies do not store any personal information. The biwa's twangy plucks were most commonly accompanied by a single voice during court performances, but its popularity spread the instrument made its way into religious sermons and oral history .